Paradise Lost Book 2

Book 1

John Milton's Paradise Lost begins with an invocation like the epics of old. However, Milton invokes the Holy Spirit as his muse, above those from the Greek traditions. He makes plain his desire to write of the fall of man from Paradise, and how the devil tempted Eve to take the forbidden fruit and thereby brought death in the world.

The poem begins with the rebellion of Satan, he who had dared to set himself against the Almighty, and so had been smitten to the depths of Hell along with his host of dark angels. Cast into a lake of fire, which gave no light but only darkness. Adamantine chains held him in the lake of fire as he looked around the desolate plains of darkness and ruin, and compared them to the glories of Heaven. Next to him was chained Beelzebub, and to him Satan addressed himself. He told him that though they had been defeated in battle, their defeat did not mean that they would bend to the power of God but rather enter into an eternal war. Beelzebub was in awe of the power of God for their army of powerful angels had been defeated so soundly, and expressed the thought that perhaps God could not be defeated. Satan then rose from the lake with his gigantic bulk and was followed by Beelzebub, only able to perform this action with the will of God. They took to the wind and alighted on the cursed land, and there Satan declared that it was better to rule in hell than to serve in Heaven. He asked about the state of his host, and Beelzebub advised that he call to his host, who were strewn across the surface of the lake in a dazed state. The violence of their expulsion from Heaven had left them confused and astonished. Beelzebub hoped that they may recover upon hearing the voice of their commander.

All of Hell resounded with Satan's voice as he called on his army of rebel angels, and they roused themselves from their defeat and flew into the sky clouding it like the swarms of locusts that vexed ancient Egypt. Many of the mighty rebel angels flew to the land, some of them would later roam the earth to corrupt mankind in the form of pagan gods and attempt to lead it astray from God's way. The host of demigods assembled on the shore and organized themselves into their companies, then the banner of Satan was raised in all its splendid beauty, covered with gems and trophies of the Seraphim. The fallen archangel addressed them and spoke of how God's unknown power had tempted them to rebel, but now that both God's power and their own were known, they could set to thinking of how to make evil come out of his designs. The army roared their approval to the heavens and held their flaming swords aloft in rebellion. A company of them then flew to a close-by hill, led by Mammon, they set to create a wondrous palace, and in a matter of minutes had created one that outshone those temples that humans had toiled lifetimes to create. Pandemonium was where the armies of Satan gathered, some of them shrinking themselves to fit into it, and then the great counsel began.

Analysis

Milton had wished to write an Epic poem for the longest time and had mentioned his vision of writing a piece that the future generations would treasure at the tender age of 19. A poem must consist of certain distinct features to be categorized as an Epic, one of these features is the theme of Patriotism, but Paradise Lost does not conform to that theme. Although Milton had been interested in having the history of Britain be the subject of his epic, he had then later decided that the scope of the subject was far too small. In Paradise Lost, Milton covers the Book of Genesis and begins the poem after Satan's rebellious armies have been cast out of Heaven. There is a disturbing parallel between this poem and Milton's life. Milton was a part of the Puritan rebellion that had executed King Charles I and had replaced the monarchical government with a republic. However, Milton saw the cause of the puritan rebellion to be just and right, while the cause of Satan's rebellion is always depicted by him as being evil and wrong. Both rebellions eventually failed, the republic government was soon ousted and King Charles II took back his throne, at the time, many people who had been involved with the republic government were executed, and Milton himself might have faced a similar fate but was eventually spared. Many critics at the time judged Milton's blindness to be God's punishment for his involvement with the rebellion, while Milton saw it as a sacrifice that he had made for the improvement of his country, and ascribed the blindness to be caused by the countless hours he had spent writing political pamphlets.